2008-10-26peninsuladailynews.com

Migrant farm workers "are just not here," said Nash Huber, owner of Nash's Organic Produce, an operation that produces scores of crops on 400 acres across the Dungeness Valley.

...

Short suspects the U.S. Border Patrol's intensified presence on the North Olympic Peninsula -- what he calls "harassment" -- has frightened immigrant workers off the farms.

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Few native-born people can or want to spend long days hoeing, bunching spinach or cutting cabbage, Huber said. "It takes focus," and a disciplined mind as well as a strong back.

Sounds like the problems could be solved by simply paying enough to attract domestic workers to the farm labor force. Of course, we have been ingrained to think that we can push labor costs down endlessly through schemes like offshoring, outsourcing, and importing illegal labor. If the US does choose to enforce immigration limits, it will be finally forced to reckon with its own distorted cost structure.

In other words, expect to pay more for produce.



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